Reality is Stranger than Fiction
by RurouniSakura
Summary: When Prince logs on, she notices something is...different. What could possibly happen that's so strange it throws even Odd Squad for a loop?  Xiao Lan/Gui later, rated T just to be safe! And because I haven't a clue how to rate things! XD
1. Chapter 1:The Strangeness Begins

As soon as Prince logged on, she knew something was off. She scanned the area, trying to find...whatever it was that was causing her faint, almost nonexistent anxiety. Everything _seemed_ to be as usual. Infinite City wasn't being attacked, the sky was still blue, and Kenshin had not become an unbearable chatterbox (which would have signaled the end of life as we know it, and possibly the end of the world as well), although Sunshine was currently talking some poor citizen's ear off. That was perfectly normal, though. Although unable to shake the feeling completely, Prince surmised that she must still be a bit paranoid after Western Wind's recent attack during the concert.

As she walked through three halls and the courtyard, Prince couldn't help but notice all the stares and double-takes the people around her were doing. Yes, she was Second Life's spokesman, and the Lord of the land, _and_ the infamous Blood Elf...but surely this was a bit overboard? The "off" feeling returned to the forefront of her mind again.

"MY MOST BELOVED HIGHNESS PRIIIIIIINNNCEEEE! YOU HAVE ARRIVED!" Gui ran up behind her, leaping to glomp his beloved elf. "PRIIIIiiinnce…?" Gui trailed off, uncertainly. "Is that….you?" Prince looked at the bard clamped on her back, his arms around her. Since when was he so hesitant?

"What do you mean 'is it you'? Who else looks like this? AND GET OFF ME!" she yelled, punching her professor in the face. After mauling him a bit, Prince continued on her way, deep in thought. Suddenly, she tripped over an uneven stone in the floor. "Ouch, that hurt…why me?" Prince groaned, head hanging, knees hurting. "I'm the lord of this castle, and it chooses to trip me!"

"Is Mama hurt?" Prince looked down at her pouch; an adorable – and teary-eyed – face stared back up at her. Remembering the flooded library from the bleeding paper cut incident, and not wanting to endure YuLian's monetary wrath again, the pet's 'Mama' hurriedly reassured him.

"Don't worry about it, Meatbun! I'm fine! I just….wanted to get a better look at the floor, that's all! I'm fine!" Thankfully, Meatbun was easily quieted down, and Prince gave a sigh of relief.

A few doors down from her room, where she realized she had left unfinished paperwork, Prince nearly walked right into Wicked.

"X-Xaio Lan? Are...you okay?" Wicked asked, blushing slightly.

"Yes..."

"Are you..._sure_ about that?"

"Huh?"

"N-nothing. I'll...see you later."

As Wicked dashed off, a very confused Prince entered her room. She crossed the room, collapsed onto the bed -

And quickly stood up and ran to find Lolidragon.

Lolidragon was in her room, planning the next set of costumes for their Infinity Band. A scary smile was on her face as she drew an outfit for Prince which was practically the definition of skimpy. She barely noticed the sound of someone sprinting till they were almost at the door, where they suddenly paused, trying to catch their breath. The door creaked open just a bit.

"Lolidragon?"

"Yes, Prince?"

"Could you...get me a bra?"

* * *

><p>I do not own ½ Prince. I have neither the creative nor the awesome capacity needed to write something like that. I do, however, own the shirt I am wearing. It's a nice shirt. I think it looks good on me.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2: Why Me?

"Wha-what happened to you, Prince?" Lolidragon blinked, clearly taken aback by Prince's..._unusual_ appearance.

"That's what I want to know! I don't remember drinking a strange potion or getting cursed or anything like that! When I logged out last night, Prince was a boy. I logged on tonight and he's a girl! You have to help me, Lolidragooon!" Prince wailed, tears starting to form in her blood red eyes.

Lolidragon's face became serious. "Let's think about this rationally...if Prince is now a girl and your wish...could it possibly be...?"

"Be what, Lolidragon? Did you figure it out?"

"Could you have followed my advice and gotten a sex change operation? Give me your address and I will go to your house and become your girlfriend at once!" Lolidragon said excitedly, drool hanging from the corners of her mouth.

"WHAT THE HECK, LOLIDRAGON!" Prince shouted while inching away from her perverted teammate. Suddenly, the full implications sunk in.

"W-wait a minute. Does that mean…whatever turned Prince into a girl might turn the real world me into a guy? No! That _can't_ happen! I already look enough like that idiot of a brother Yang Ming! This is horrible! WAAAH!"

With a giant sweatdrop making its way down the side of her head, the hidden GM attempted to bring rational thought into the conversation that, so far, had none. "I don't think it would work _that_ way, Prince."

Prince turned her teary eyes towards her first teammate. "Th-then what h-happened?" she sniffled. "Wh-why is Prince a g-girl?"

Lolidragon frowned, trying to think. Prince's wish didn't have a time limit, right? She highly doubted that was the case. Was there something else she was forgetting that could account for this bizarre change?

Suddenly, it hit her. The patch! There was a patch taking affect today! It was supposed to make Second Life more realistic, right? Could some tired programmer have forgotten about Feng Lan's wish and changed her character into a girl, thinking it was a fluke?

"Lolidragon?" The GM blinked, brought out of her musings, and saw that Prince was looking at her anxiously.

"Prince, tell Odd Squad, Dark Emperor and the rest of the Infinite City officials to gather in the meeting room. I have something I need to check."

"Lolidragon, wait!"

_Huh? Did something else happen? _"What is it, Prince? What's wrong?" Lolidragon asked anxiously.

"I still need a bra…"

~A few minutes and a couple of clothing adjustments later~

As Lolidragon began to mutter something about a 'stupid idiot programmer' or something, Prince opened up the team channel and told the rest of Odd Squad about the meeting. Thankfully, Odd Squad helped her tell everyone else who needed to be there, so she wasn't stuck PMing people for the next 10 minutes. Meatbun, meanwhile, had found the meat buns Prince had been saving. By the time "Mama" finished PMing and realized what was happening, the meat buns were no more. As Prince mourned for the meat buns, Lolidragon finally finished her business which, judging by the sigh she let loose, had not gone any better than she had thought it would.

"Let's go. We have a meeting to attend."

Prince followed the (slightly depressed looking) hidden GM out the door and down the hall, hoping against hope that the news wasn't _that_ bad. After all, Prince was already a girl now. Surely nothing else would go wrong, right? Right?

~More passing time~

As soon as everyone was seated and the doors were shut, Lolidragon addressed Infinite City's leaders.

"As you may have noticed, something….odd has happened to Prince. He is, well, no longer a 'he'. I've spoken to the game's help desk, and, as far as we can tell, this is a fluke that happened during the patch taking effect today. They'll do what they can, but unfortunately that will take time." Lolidragon took a deep breath, readying herself for what she would have to say next.

"The programmers said it could take anywhere from a couple of weeks to couple of _months_ to fix Prince's gender swap."

Silence; then YuLian said: "But Infinite Band has a performance in a week."

Again, silence reigned supreme in the meeting hall as everyone in the room thought the same thing:

OH. SNAP.

* * *

><p>First off, I do not own the rights to 12 Prince, or even _I_ probably wouldn't be a part of this fandom.

Secondly...THANK YOU SO MUCH! You have no idea how happy it made me to see favorites and reviews the day I posted the first chapter! Someone (Aynessa) even added me as their favorite author, even though I haven't posted anything else! You people made my WEEK!

Thirdly, I am such a noob when it comes to RPGs, my gaming terminology is probably horrendous. I'd be very suprised if their actually _was_ such a thing as a "game's help desk". XD Please try not to cringe _too_ badly!

Fourthly...(Is that even a word?) I have decided that I want Meatbun-bun in every chapter! He's too cute to be left out!

Fithly, (wow this is long) I live in a house with 6 other kids ages 15-1. I'm not going to take the risk of one of them reading over my shoulder (they do this ALL THE TIME), seeing a bad word, and then me getting in trouble because of it. This means that even Western Wind will have a clean mouth! Yes, I know this is out of character, but this is so I won't get banned from computer use.

Thanks again, reviewers! Feel free to offer suggestions - I still only have a faint notion where this is going!


	3. Chapter 3: A Prince By Any Other Name

After a long minute of painful silence, Wicked spoke up. "Should we cancel the concert? Won't fans start a riot if Prince appears as a girl?"

_Not to mention the increased chances of someone recognizing her..._ thought certain people in the room.

"As problematic as that may be, I'm afraid that you'll just have to endure it." YuLian's shadow smile gave an extra chill to her words. "This concert has been sold out for over a month. If we cancel it now, not only will we lose a massive sum of money in refunds, we will have an angry mob consisting of a few thousand disappointed fans to deal with as well."

"So, what do we do? Have Prince appear in front of a whole stadium as a girl? Like Wicked said, that's just _asking_ for an angry mob!"

"What else are we supposed to do? We don't really have a choice!"

"What if we disguised Prince as a guy, at least until he becomes one again?"

"NO! THERE IS NO WAY I'M LETTING YOU DO THAT!"

Everyone turned to stare at the source of this unexpected exclamation, a.k.a. Lolidagon.

"How could you think of doing such a thing? Prince is one of the main sources of Infinite Band's attractiveness! Look, even as a girl, she's totally pretty! You're going to make me COVER THIS UP under some disguise? THAT WOULD BE A CRIME OF THE HIGHEST DEGREE!"

Prince smiled nervously and said, "Uh, thanks Lolidragon - I think."

"So what, pray tell do _you_ suggest, my dearest Lolidragon?" Wu Quing practically _purred_ (Feng Lan nearly lost her dinner), a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

He was, of course, quickly sent flying to meet the nearest wall by a irked (and slightly blushing) Lolidragon. "Maybe we can say she's Prince's twin sister or something! I don't know!"

"Yeah right, Lolidragon."

"No, wait." All eyes turned to Wolf-dage as he spoke, hand on his chin. "That actually has a chance of working."

"Huh?"

"How's that different from the other options? We'll still get an angry mob."

"We'll say that Prince is suffering from a sudden illness. As a precautionary, his doctor has ordered him to stay off of Second Life until the main symptoms clear up. Until then, his twin sister will be taking his place. Rather than being angry, most fans will simply be disappointed. That way, it's not like Prince is actively avoiding them. It will seem as if none of us have a choice in the matter which, quite honestly, we don't." Wolf-dage said with confidence. He'd forbidden a sick person from playing once before. After all, part of the 99% realism of the game was the fact that, even if you were deathly ill in the real world, you would feel healthy in Second Life unless you were injured or sick in-game. It had been simply too dangerous for that person.

"Ah, Wolf-dage, I don't have a twin sister." The wolf man grinned at the oblivious elf as the sound of facepalms echoed throughout the meeting room. "Prince, you're a girl now, right?"

"Yes, but Wu Quing isn't."

_What the heck does this have to do with Wu Quing? _most of the meeting wondered, while Lolidragon nearly suffocated, she was laughing so hard.

As Wu Quing tried to revive a passed out Lolidragon (_pervertae feminae draconae)_, Doll innocently asked, "What should we call Prince-jiejie until she can be Prince-gege again?" [Bet you didn't think Doll was there, huh? XD]

Everyone ducked as a Fire Phoenix swooped through the room with a meatbun on its back, never pausing their conversation.

Gui was the first with a suggestion. "For someone as radiant and wonderful as Prince, only 'Princess' will do. Besides, it's so close to the name 'Prince' that it will be fairly easy to avoid or cover up slips of the tongue."

From atop 'Fire Birdy', Meatbun called to Prince. "Hi, Mama! Meatbun-bun and Fire Birdy are fly-flying!"

Prince, still a bit uncomfortable from the adoring gazes her professor was giving her, spoke up. "Wouldn't that username be taken by now? Even if a little girl like Doll didn't take it ("What! Doll's not a little girl! Doll's a fighter for love and justice!"), there's plenty of crazed fangirls that might have snatched it already."

"What about 'Dage', Dage?"

"Yun, you idiot! We need _girl's_ names!"

Fire Phoenix flew back out of the room, Meatbun still on her back. No one spared this odd occurrence a thought; why would they? It was the most normal thing that had happened in the meeting so far!

The leaders of Infinite City continued to debate over their Liege lord's fake name, a figure roamed the halls of Infinite City's palace, searching for a particular person. Hearing the voices inside the meeting room and recognizing one of them, the figure grasped the handle of the door and pulled it open.

* * *

><p>I do not own 12 Prince, nor do I own the Clow Cards (Well, I guess they're Sakura Cards now, but I still don't own them). I kind of wish I did, though.

When I was writing the part where Lolidragon yells about not wanting to disguise female Prince as a guy, I suddenly realized that Lolidragon is sort of like Haruhi Suzumiya. Think about it. They both are take-charge kind of people, they both like dressing people up in somewhat-less-than-modest clothing, and there's probably other similarities too. If you want to use that idea for a story, by all means, go right ahead. Please give the credit for the original idea to me, as that is one of the few things I _do_ own.

Aynessa, I figured GMs probably had something like that. However, Lolidragon is still a _hidden_ GM in my story, so she said she talked to the help desk because she's still pretending to be a normal player. Not that she'd be a normal player anyway, even if she wasn't a GM!

Thank you again to everyone who reviewed and favorited and story alerted etc. etc. etc. You people make me feel so loved! I don't deserve it! TT-TT

Random crossover thought 2- 1/2 Prince plus CardCaptor Sakura. That would be EPIC. To me, at least. ^-^

Next con I go to, I'm planning to cosplay as a cross between Prince and Xiao Lan! (i.e., Feng Lan in the clothes that Prince wears during the Adventurer's Tournament, hopefully with Meatbun!) Wish me luck; to make this costume, I'm probably gonna need it!

Feel free to offer suggestions for the story (or cosplay)!


	4. Chapter 4: Idiots and Explanations

The door swung open, attracting the attention of most of the room.

"Guiliastes, you jerk! You trying to kill me, sonny? That flaming turkey of yours tried to set my head on fire!" A girl with long hair and a v-necked shirt that left practically nothing to the imagination popped out of nowhere. Western Wind had arrived, and he didn't look very happy at the moment. As he was about to continue to giving Gui a good tongue-lashing, Western Wind heard something familiar.

"Hey, Hot Babe." Prince said, waiting for the explosion sure to follow the use of her nickname for Western Wind. Sure enough, Western Wind turned to face her. "What did you say, pretty bo-"

Prince smirked while Western Wind gaped, speechless. She was, therefore, quite surprised when the other part-time male suddenly snapped out of it and grabbed her chest.

Western Wind was lucky that Wicked was on the exact opposite side of the room and blocked by the crowd that was shocked stiff, just like the dark elf was.

An anger mark adorned Prince's head. "Listen, I know this is unbelievable, and I _know_ I did this same thing to you...but **get. your. hands. off. me**."

"Fine, _missy._" Now it was Western Wind's turn to smirk. "I _would_ call you 'hot babe' to show you how humiliating it feels, but I don't think you deserve that title."

Western Wind's face then got up close and personal with the floor.

_How dare he say that! As if I wasn't a cute, attractive girl! I know for a fact that I'm pretty cute in real life, and I even have 40% more beauty in Second Life! How dare you call me unattractive!_

Infinite City's leaders and officials watched as their teary-eyed liege lord(lady?) beat Western Wind to a pulp. Halfway through that, Wicked, Gui and Ice Phoenix overcame their initial shock and ran forward to help maim the upstart that dared grope their beloved Prince.

It was at about that point everyone realized that not much else was going to get done that day.

As Prince went to find Meatbun (and escape her enraged admirers), Wolf-dage began to ponder.

The rest of Prince's day (or should I say night? .) was spent eating, pummeling various people, monsters and/or things (mostly Gui), and watching Wu Quing try to rescue Sunshine's flying carpet from a flaming turtle (long story). Unfortunately, none of them could sleep in, since tomorrow was Monday.

_Why, school? Why? Do you have a grudge against us or something?_

Just as a tired (and faintly barbecue-scented) Wu Quing was about to log off, Wolf-dage PMed him.

"Wu Quing, you have a twin sister, don't you?"

"...Yes...Why do you ask?"

"She's Prince, isn't she?"

"Wha-how did you know?"

Wolf-dage sighed. Even if they hadn't looked alike, the two siblings were both so oblivious at times that it was kind of obvious they were related.

"Earlier, when we were discussing Prince's "twin sister", Prince said something interesting; something like 'but Wu Quing isn't female'." Noting Wu Quing's paling face, Wolf-dage quickly added, "Don't worry, I think everyone forgot about that comment when Western Wind made his rather eventful entrance. I already had my suspicions, though, so that slip-up caught my attention.

Your real-life features are so close to Prince's that Gui mistook you for him, and since you are not Prince, your identical twin is the next logical suspect. Also, Feng Lan visited my clinic not long ago; she displayed several very Prince-like behaviors, down to the way they stand and Prince's nickname for me that only he - no, she - uses. Meatbun, a pet with high wisdom levels, ("What? _That_ thing?" cried Wu Quing, incredulous) calls Prince "Mama", which suggests that Prince may actually be a girl in real life. Add to that the fact that, during a patch enacted to make things more _realistic_, Prince got turned into a girl. If it was just a programmer's mistake, wouldn't it have been his hair or his eyes or his strength that changed, not his gender? Add all that together, and you have a pretty clear idea of who Prince is."

"I guess it's too late to deny it, huh?"

Wolf-dage chuckled. "Tell her to meet me at my office after her classes. I haven't gotten to know her in the real world as well as I'd like. Oh, and I'm not going to tell anyone her real identity, so she doesn't have to worry about that." The wolfman logged out, leaving a dazed idiot behind him. Said idiot stood there, trying to understand how the school doctor, of all people, had figured everything out so quickly. He'd only met Xiao Lan once!

Wu Quing was so wrapped up in his thoughts (didn't know _he_ could think that hard, did you?), it took a bouncing Meatbun slamming right into the side of his head to snap him out of it.

"Waaah! Mamaaaaaa! Meatbun-bun ran into a big rooooock! It huuuurts! WAAAAAH!"

As Wu Quing was swept away in the newly formed stream, a single thought crossed his burned-out brain (he was never going to think that hard ever again):

_Tomorrow's going to be one interesting day._

* * *

><p>½ Prince is a Chinese novel and manhua. I do not speak Chinese, I do not live in China, I have never even been to China (nor do I know anyone who's been there), and I am not Chinese by decent. I think it's pretty obvious that I do NOT own ½ Prince. At all. China is one of my favorite Hetalia characters, though.<p>

Sorry to get your expectations up with three quick updates in a row and then dash said expectations. I've just been busy. That, and the fact that I don't have my own computer and my siblings are computer hogs.

I don't know about you, but I love the Meatbun moment at the end. It actually didn't occur to me until I was writing the very end of the chapter.

Most of the reviews I got since the last chapter pointed out the awkwardness (that's kind of a cool looking word :D) of the whole 'Wu Quing's not a girl' thing. Sorry about that, I write most of this kind of late at night. Please forgive the errors and 'what the heck?' moments I create. I hope the "save" in this chapter was good enough.

Thanks for the reviews, favorites, alerts, etc.! Please continue to leave your input! I would LOVE suggestions!


	5. Chapter 5: Meatbuns Cure Everything

Yang Ming stood at the door of his room, trying to think of...something. He wasn't even really sure _what,_ exactly, he was supposed to be thinking of. It wasn't like he usually had to think this hard, and this was quite the...weird? complicated? just plain unlikely? situation. Wolf was apparently their school physician (why the university didn't hire a hot nurse, he couldn't understand), knew that Prince was a girl, knew _who _Prince was, wanted to meet her, AND Yang Ming could no longer call his sister a tranny (he almost cried when he realized that). What was he supposed to do in such circumstances? It didn't help that he was about as thick-headed as a polar ice cap.

He was so lost in thought that the door which smacked him in the face quite surprised him.

"Yang Ming! Are you okay? It's almost time to leave and you haven't whined, screamed, yelled, or generally made yourself a nuisance yet! And you HAVEN'T EVEN EATEN ANYTHING! Are you sick? Was there some kind of alien attack or something? What happ-"

"Wolf knows your secret and wants you to meet him today after class." Xiao Lan stopped her yelling, hoping her brother hadn't said what she thought he might have said.

"Wh-what did you just say?"

"That 'Wolf-dage' of yours figured out who Prince is and wants to see her in the infirmary after class."

_It's amazing how fast her face can turn completely white_, Yang Ming thought. _I never would've thought it'd be possible._

Min Gui Wen watched his students file in, still lost in thought. Western Wind's..._predicament_ had been a big shock, and he was only a girl half the time. Prince's glitch appeared to be a full time deal, at least from what they had seen last night, when Western Wind had reverted to a guy and Prince hadn't. For all intents and purposes in-game, Prince was now a girl. Did that mean that throwing himself at Prince was no longer considered acting like a homo?

_Wait...that would be sexual harassment, wouldn't it..._

The part-time bard was distracted from his thoughts by the large, dark cloud of gloom that surrounded one of the students who walked through the door. It was a bit impressive, actually; not many people could get _that_ depressed in less than a day. The inkling of a notion almost surfaced in the professor's mind - something big, something important - but he had to get the class started; the clock had already begun chiming the hour that signalled the beginning of the day's lessons.

After class, the cloud of gloom made its way down the hallway towards the infirmary, leaving behind a worried professor. Gui made a mental note to investigate thoroughly if she was not better by next week. For someone - especially a girl - to refuse to look at him, refuse to speak, and be so depressed it's _visible_ was not good in the least. At least she seemed to be heading to the infirmary.

Li Tian Lang was starting to get a bit nervous, although he wasn't altogether sure why. It wasn't as if he hadn't met Feng Lan before! Besides, he had known Prince for a while now. There was nothing to be nervous about, right?

A couple of students walked past the door, saying something about a dark cloud heading this way. Li Tian Lang wondered if he should have brought his umbrella; his car was in the staff parking lot, which was a couple of buildings away. However, he didn't remember any storms in the weather forecast.

Feng Lan entered the room, and suddenly the students' comments made much more sense. The gloom cloud had thinned a bit on the journey from the classroom, but it was still plainly visible. "Wolf-dage" sighed. _It looks like I'll have to use __those__ supplies sooner than I expected._ He reached into his cabinet and pulled out...

A plate of meatbuns.

"Here, have these."

* * *

><p>A kind reviewer informed me that 12 Prince is actually Taiwanese, not Chinese. That should make it pretty clear that I don't own 1/2 Prince, right? Yes, you may laugh at my mistake. I do it all the time. Just laugh _with_ me, please. It might hurt my feelings otherwise.

Yes, I know, I'm a horrible person for keeping you waiting all this time and I didn't even get to the actual Wolf-Xiao Lan talk. I also happen to be horribly busy right now all of a sudden. Essays are not nice things...

On a completely random tangent (kind of), has anyone else read a short story J.R.R. Tolkien wrote entitled "Leaf By Niggle"? I have, and I love it! It makes you think.

I've always been a big C.S. Lewis/Shakespeare/J.R.R. Tolkien fan.

Also, I couldn't find any 'real life' nicknames for Wolf-dage (Li Tian Lang), and I haven't had enough experience with Chinese or Taiwanese names to try and make one myself, so I think I'll just stick to Wolf-dage for the most part from now on.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it! Please review!


	6. Meatbuns Keep Falling On My Head

As Feng Lan began devouring the meatbuns (making her look a bit like a cannibal or something; after all her "child" was a meatbun too), Wolf-dage took a deep breath and began his speech.

"I'm sure you're a bit nervous about all this, and frankly, I'd be surprised if you weren't, but don't worry. I won't tell anyone, and you should already know that you can trust me. Hopefully, this talk will enable the both of us to have some of our questions answered. Oh, before we begin, I want you to know that if you ever need any help in-game or out, please don't hesitate to ask me. I'd love to help, if possible."

"Fhanshs, Woph-dashay," mumbled the girl stuffing her face full of food.

The doctor chuckled. "No problem, my lady."

Feng Lan gave him a strange look.

"Well, it's not like I can call you "my lord" now, can I?", he stated, eyebrow quirking up in a half-question of sorts.

She shrugged, finished chewing, and swallowed.

"You seem pretty sure about this."

"I have my reasons to believe that my guess is correct."

Feng Lan frowned.

"What gave me away?"

After an almost eerie rendition of his talk with Wu Quing earlier and another plate of meatbuns, Wolf finally got to ask her a question. Of course, it was the obvious one:

"How are - er -_ were_ you male in Second Life when you're clearly female?"

"Well, I was playing this game with my brother..."

Halfway through her explanation, Wolf-dage decided he couldn't take it anymore. Even if it seemed silly to anyone else, he had to do it. He reached into his cabinet and pulled _it_ out. Without further ado, Wolf plopped it on her head.

"I tried to tell Loli..dra..go...huh?" a very confused part-time elf felt the top of her head trying to figure out just _what_ her dage had put up there. Wolf-dage smiled.

"It just didn't seem quite right without Meatbun sitting on your head."

Feng Lan was shocked.

"But...how? What? Wait...huh?"

_This is real life, right? So how can my "son" be here? Surely Wolf-dage isn't a magician, is he?_

Wolf-dage patted the Meatbun plushie still sitting on her head.

"I found this at the coffee shop around the corner on my way here this morning. It seems that Second Life has started selling Prince merchandise in the real world, too. I saw this Meatbun, and, well..."

Wolf scratched the back of his head, an embarrassed grin on his face. Xiao Lan smiled. Everyone in Odd Squad knew that Wolf-dage wasn't exactly the best at handling money and had the tendency to impulse-buy. This time, though, Xiao Lan thought that what her dage had done was really nice. She removed the Meatbun look-alike from her head and snuggled it. It was almost snugglier than the "real" Meatbun. She gave a contented smile.

"Thank you, Wolf-dage. I love it!"

"Y-you're welcome," an embarrassed doctor said. "Well, how about you finish that story of yours now? Gui'll probably show up to talk a few minutes from now, after he finishes grading. He usually stops in right after class, but I thought that you would probably prefer not to have him there, at least not at first."

Feng Lan shifted in her seat, her cheery smile vanishing.

"Yeah...I wouldn't want that." she almost whispered.

"Hm? What did you say?" a confused Wolf asked.

"O-oh, nothing. Where was I? Oh, right! So, I was trying to get Lolidragon to stop, but she completely ignored everything I said..."

Min Gui Wen breathed a sigh of relief as he finally put away the last stack of graded papers.

_Thank __goodness __I got __a __head __start __on __these __earlier, _he thought. _I __wouldn't __have __time __to __talk __to __Wolf __otherwise, __and __I __really __need __his __advice. __This __whole __"Prince __is __a __girl" dilemma __is __messing __with __my __head. _He turned the corner. Wolf-ge's clinic was the second door to the right on this hallway. As he turned the doorknob, a question was occupying his mind (which, though he wasn't aware of it, distracted him enough that he didn't notice the conversation wrapping up inside).

_What is Wolf-ge doing that requires me to stay away? He's never asked me to do this before._

"Wolf-ge, I need to talk..."

The first thing he noticed was that Wolf-ge didn't seem to be doing much that warranted banning Gui from the infirmary.

The second was that Wolf was sitting next to a girl.

A girl who looked rather familiar.

Gui reacted to the first explanation he could come up with.

"S-sorry for interrupting! I-I'll leave you to your - uh- date now!"

Wolf and Xiao Lan stared at the door, stupefied.

_Whaaaaaat?_

* * *

><p>If I owned 12 Prince, there would be more Rurouni Kenshin characters in it. Like Sano. And Masao. ^-^ There aren't, 'cause I don't own 1/2 Prince. I would mess it up so badly. -_-

I find it very funny that Gui's "Prince is a girl" dilemma is WAY different than it normally is in fanfics. XD Nobody else may care, but I had to put that in there.

I didn't think of the whole Gui thing at the end until I started explaining why he wasn't there. In my mind, Gui always visits Wolf-dage after he finishes teaching his class/classes, whichever the case may be.

Wow, I think this is the longest chapter so far!

We are now entering the part of the story with an actual plotline! (Yay! :D) Unfortunately, I still have very little knowledge of what said plotline actually is. This could be a problem.

It didn't take me forever to update this time! Aren't you happy? Or at least mildly pleased? Jenaminya, I hope I didn't give you grey hairs! Thanks for the meatbun. It was cute.

Speaking of which, I'm starting to wonder if I'm a Meatbun fangirl. -_-

It's funny, almost everyone who reviewed last chapter mentioned the dark cloud of gloom. I guess I should use stuff like that more often, huh? XD

Please review! It makes me do a happy dance!

-*crickets*-

Okay, fine. It makes _Meatbun_ do a happy dance. Will you do it now?

*is buried in reviews*


	7. Chapter 7: Dates  A Nutritious Food

Saying that YuLian was surprised would be a bit of an understatement. She had gone to find a certain demon bard who was slacking off AGAIN. What she didn't expect was his reaction. Instead of the usual whining and cries of "PRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINCE!", she had received...  
>well...<br>an apology.  
>For something that hadn't happened.<br>YuLian stared at Gui, who repeated his statement.

"YuLian-dasao, I'm very sorry for interrupting your date with Wolf-ge. I didn't know you were there! Honest!"

When the flustered finance manager was able to speak, she gave Gui a sharp order to go to his post. There was a Wolf she needed to visit.

A dark, bone-chilling aura made its way down the halls of Infinite City's castle. Everyone nearby hid like children who had just broken a china plate playing ball in the house when their mother was already angry. Sure, they were skilled fighters who could take down all kinds of monsters - some of them even had the stamina and self-control to talk to Sunshine for more than an hour (this had become a challenge not unlike that of the nyan cat) - but anyone could tell that even the fiercest warriors would have trouble defeating the master of _this_ aura, they argued (especially those who recognized the aura's owner. NO ONE wants to get on _her_ bad side. Her good side is terrifying enough!)

So, everyone hid - everyone, that is, but Ugly Wolf. After all, he was her husband! It was part of his duties as such to make her feel better, right?

"YuLian, what's-"

"**Woooolllf.**"

"Y-yes, YuLian?" Wolf replied, starting to think that maybe it would have been a better idea to hide this time. His wife turned to him, eyes glowing, dark aura surrounding her like royal robes.

"**What is this I hear about a ****date****?**" Her voice was that dangerous quiet that simultaneously freezes you in place and tells you "Run! Run like the wind! DX". Thus, it took Wolf-dage, who was now encased in a large ice stalagmite, a bit to process the meaning of the query.

"W-wait a minute, it's not like that..."

"**Oh really? What IS is like then? Betrayal? Because that's what it looks like.**"

As she decapitated a purple dinosaur with green spots (it _had_ offered her a quest, but its frequent declarations of love were so annoying she couldn't stand it), Prince suddenly received a PM from her Wolf-dage.

""Prince, I know that I just promised you that I wouldn't tell anyone about your real gender, but can you please make an exception? I think YuLian will kill me if you don't."

"What?"

"You know how Gui showed up, then took off yelling something about a date earlier? Well, it appears that he thought you were YuLian in real life, and he just apologized to YuLian for interrupting our 'date'. Now YuLian thinks I'm cheating on her in real life. Please, I'm about to become a pillar of light!"

"Fine, but no one else!"

And thus, YuLian was initiated into the "People Who Know Who Prince Really Is" group.

Meatbun hopped through the castle looking for food. He _would_ have stayed with Mama, but she was with Lolidragon-jiejie changing clothes. She did that a lot when YuLian-dasao-sao told her that she was going to sing for a lot of people. Meatbun-bun never sang with Mama, even though singing was fun. He had tried before, but all the screaming people were scary! Meatbun-bun would rather be with Firebirdy. He loved Firebirdy a whole lot! There was a door partly open and a muttering voice coming out of it. Meatbun-bun knew that voice! It was Firebirdy's Papa, the one who liked Mama! Firebirdy said that he wasn't her papa, but Meatbun didn't think that was true. What else would he be? Meatbun bounced into the room. Firebirdy's Papa was there at his desk, with the big pile of paperwork - taller than Meatbun-bun! - in the "To Do" box. He didn't notice Meatbun-bun and was saying, "YuLian didn't have to give me all this work! I apologized, didn't I? It's not like I really saw much! I just got a glimpse, not even enough to recognise her or to get a good idea of her features. Why are they trying to keep their dates secret from us, anyway?"

"YuLian-dasao-sao is hiding her dates from you, Gui-gui?" Meatbun asked, confused. Why would she do that? Did she like eating dates a lot? Maybe it was YuLian's favorite food, and she didn't want to run out!

Firebirdy's Papa looked surprised.

"Meatbun! Why are you all the way over here?" he looked confused.

"If YuLian-dasao-sao won't give you some of her dates, then Meatbun-bun can share mine with you, Gui-gui! Meatbun-bun likes meatbuns better, but dates are still yummy!" Meatbun smiled at Firebirdy's Papa, who looked even more confused before starting to laugh. Huh? Was Firebirdy's Papa that happy that Meatbun-bun was going to share some dates with him? Gui-gui must really like dates!

Firebirdy's Papa stopped laughing and wiped a tear out of his eye. Meatbun-bun was confused. Why was Gui-gui crying now?

"Meatbun, there's different kinds of dates. There's the food, yes, but there's also a kind of date that is sometimes called 'courting'. The courting kind of dating is a...well, I guess you could call it a playdate with the person you like the most. You might go out to eat or go see a movie, or even just go for a walk with them. The important part is that you're spending time with someone you like. Hopefully, the date will determine whether or not this is the person you want to marry, although married people go on dates sometimes too." Gui looked at Meatbun-bun.

"The boy usually asks the girl if she'd like to go on a date with him, just so you know."

Meatbun-bun's eyes shone.

"Gui-gui, where's Firebirdy? Meatbun-bun has a question to ask!"

* * *

><p>I do not own 12 Prince. If I did, I'd have a deadline, so I would've had to finish this chapter much earlier, despite an ultra-crazy schedule and two rounds of severe writer's block. Also, writing this would be my _work_ that I'd be paid for, so I wouldn't be giving it up for Lent.

That's right, I'm a practicing Catholic! That means that, seeing as I spend _**way**_ too much time on this site, I'm giving it up for Lent (along with a few other things). Thus, **I will not be reading, posting, or answering anything from fanfiction,net. Not favorites, reviews, story alerts - **not even new chapters from my own story alert list.

Hopefully, I will have a new chapter up as an Easter present, along with a few oneshots I've gotten ideas for. I _might_ post a oneshot on Good Friday, because 1) Good Friday is part of the Tridiium, which is not Lent, and 2) it fits the theme and feel of that day.

Anyway, I hope I didn't make anyone _too_ upset by the long wait, but stuff's been happening. Thanks for the awesome reviews! Please, feel free to review, as that would make an AMAZING Easter present! ^-^

For those of you participating in Lent as well - keep up the good work! This'll only make Easter that much more awesome!


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